High-capacity spring



Dec. 19 922.

' 1,439,375 J, F. O'CONNOR, HIGH CAPACITY, SPRING.

FILED FEB, 16. 192i,

Patented Dec, 19, 1922.

hurrah rares v 1,439,375 .eAT N'I-f OFF C ionnr, accrues, or cnronco, irrrnois, nssrenon ro ILLIAM H"; Minna, or

' CHAZY, new YORK.

nren onracrry srnrne. l 7

Application filed. February 16, 1921. Serial No. 445,292.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LJoriN F. OConnou,

a citizen of the United States, residingxat Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, iav'e invented ZtCSl'tELlIl new and useful Improvement 'in High-Capacity Springs, of which the following is a;full,-

clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the. accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification:

This invention relatesto improvements in high capacity springs.

In shock absorbing devices of highca pacity, as for instance, railway draftrig gings, itis thegeneral practice to employ either alone or in combination with triotion. creating elements, a" heavy spring.

Heretotore, these springs, which are made of relatively large diameterrods, have been formed at-their ends with so-called tapered mered orforged to provide'the taperedtangs c and in coiling the rods, the forward ends must first be clamped in' proper position and therear ends of the rods held by tongs in the hands of the operator who is required to exert great strength in preventing the rods from'twisting toginsure that the rear tang retainsits proper positionin the;fin

'is'hed coiled spring. Experience has shown that much waste is entailed in manufacturing springs of this character due" to the human element entering into the coiling thereof, the operators frequently becoming fatigued after a few hours work and unable to, maintain the position of the-rear tang with the result that many of the coils must either be rejected or subsequently ground to provide the flat bearings. I

' It is also a wellknown fact that inuthe ordinary helicallyeoiled spring, the capac-v ity of a springhaving a plurality of-continuous coils is nogrea'ter than that of a single turn: or coil f 360, assumingthe same diametersotrods, same pitch and same diameters; ofthecoils. Where such springs of multiple continuous coils are. employed in a friction draft-gear, for inst,anc e,ythe total capacity of the spring providesl only a relatively, small proportion of the total capacity of 3 the, friction draft gear, the major portion of the capacity being riecessarily imposed upon the friction elements. Where suchsprings are employed without friction elements in draft gears,-the capacis ties are limited because of the small space allowed for the draftgears'onrailway cars. Furthermore, when heavy, springs having tapered tangs, above described, are em ployed it is a wellknown fact that more thanra complete coil or the spring remains inaetiveor dead and the movement of the spring decreased tothat extent; C ne object of my invention is to] provide spring suitable for heavy duty as for in stance in railway draft gears, which may be used either alone or in comb-ination with .i riction elements and wherein the cost of manufacture is materially reducedas compared tolpresent practice;- wherein the accuracy of results is increased, the total capacity of the complete spring multiplied as compared with the usual commercial continuous helical springs; and wherein the full length of therod material employed is utilized;

More specificallypthe object or my invention-is tov provide ahigh capacity spring portion of a railway draft rigging showing my improvement-sin COllIlQCtlOIl therewlth, all ofthe parts being shown in their .1101- malor full release position. Figure 2 isa vertical, transverse, sectional view corresponding'to the line 22 of Figure 1. Figtire/3 isan elevational View of one of the mproved spring caps employed with my construction, Figure i is a detachedenlargedelevational-view- 'ot' oneend of the spring shown in Figure -1 and illustrating ing to Figure l ,illustratinga somewhat different embodiment of the invention. In said draw ng, and reterrlngfirst to the construction illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, l-10denote channel draft sills of a railway car to the inner faces of which are secured front stop lugs lland rear stop lugs 12. The inner end of a drawb ar is indicated at 13, the same being operatively associated four like units A,IA-, the same being superimposed one upon the other in axial alinementf Each of said units A is coiled to the desired helical pitch greater than the diameter of coil-forn'iingrod and extends thru two complete circles or 720. The

ends of the units A are squared off or flat as,

indicated at 19 and 20 in planes perpen dicular to the axis of the coil-forming rods. In view of the fact that all of theunits A are of like construction and pitch, it is evi-,

dent that any two adjacent units will be in line contact throughout an arc of'360 and the end 19 of one'unitwill partly overlap the opposite end 20 of the next adjacent unit. With this construction, I obtain double the capacity that would be obtained from a continuous helical coil having a plurality of turns of the same pitch, coil diameter and same material. The compression stroke where four units i 'jare employed as shown,

is five times the movement or compress on stroke of a single. complete turn of same pitch; In actual practice, I'will preferably employ an inner nested series of coil units B as best shown in Figure 2, of similar construction and having the same totalcompression stroke, the end units of the inner series fitting over studs 21'21 formed on the inner sides of'the followers 16 and 17 in order to center thespring. Preferably I also employ an outer tube or casing 22 to prevent displacement of any of the units, the length of said casing corresponding .to the solid height of the completespring It is desirable in heavy duty springs of the type disclosed in this application to have a flat bearing on the followers and to that end I provide novel spring caps designated generally by the references C-C. Said caps are of like constructlon and each ex tends thru an arc of approximately 270, as

clearly indicated in Figure 3. On the side adapted-to engage with a follower, the cap has a flat bearing surface 23 in the same plane throughout. On its inner side adapted to engage with a spring: unit, the cap C isformed with a helical surface 24 arranged to conform to the pitch ofcthe spring coils when the latter are in theirfully compressed The improved spring is mounted shown in Figure l, Not onlydo I obtain the desired or closed condition. At the thicker" end of the annular cap C, a fiat face 2511s pro,-

and the dimension of the thicker end of the cap C, taken parallel to its face 25 corresponds to the diameter of the'rod used in forming the units A. With this arrange ment, as best shown. in Figure 4:, when the spring is compressed solid, the cap C will lie flat against the corresponding follower on the one side and will provide'a continuous true line bearing thru an arc of approximately270 with the end turn of the'adjacent unit A. hen the spring as an entirety is extended, the caps C may tilt bodily to positions"substantially as v multiplied capacity as above described, but also it will be evident that the 0011 units may be made 111 a very simple 'manner since each can be formed directly by machinery from rods cut torproper length without the necessity of forging the ends or of holding the rods as the same are coiled ina machine. 1

In the construction illustrated in Figure 5,

I employ two like units D-,' D and a unit E. 'Each of the units'D extends thru an arc of approximately 360 and has squared off ends 120-119 so that, when. the 'two'units D-D are assembled in axial alineinent, they will be in line contact throughout the full are of approximately 360. The unit E, as shown, extendsthru six complete'turns and is of the same pitch, same coil diameter and same rod diameter as the units D.--D. The

ends of the'units E are also squared OH or left. flat as indicated at 220 and 219. At the end adjacent'the units D,-.it is evident the unit E will be in full line. contact throughout'an arc of approximately 360 with the next adjacent unit D. Spring caps (JC are employed similar to those re ferenced C in theother construction;

" lVith the arrangement shown in Figure 5, I obtaina capacity equal to three times the capacity. of either one of the units D or E and a total movement-or compression stroke equal to six times the movement of a single turn coil." 1

7 Ihave herein shown and described what I now. consider the preferred manner of carrying out In invention but, as will be evident to those skilled in the art, various changes and modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention, among 'suchfchanges being any desired combination of units such as shown 'ineither Flgure l or 5 and by which may be obtained the desired capacitywwith the compression stroke. All such changes and modifications are contemplated as come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim? 1. A high capacity spring comprising: a plurality of helically coiled rod units arranged in axial alinement in abutting re lation, the units being of the same pitch and having each fiat ends extending in planes substantially perpendicular to the axis of the coil-forming rod, the effective pitch being greater than the diameter of the coil-forming rod and adjacentunits having their coils in line contact thru arcs of substantially 360.

2. A high capacity spring comprising: a plurality of helically coiled rod units in abutting relation and in axial alinement, the units being of the same pitch and having each fiat ends extending in planes substantially perpendicular to the axis of the coilforming rod, the effective pitch being greater than the diameter of the coil-forming rod and adjacent u' nits having their coils in line contact thru arcs of substantially 360, one end of one unit abutting and partially overlapping the relatively opposite end of an adjacent unit.

A. high capacity spring comprising: a plurality of helically coiled rod units in abutting relation and in axial alinement, the units being of the same pitch and having each fiat ends extending in planes substantially perpendicular to the axis of the coili'orming rod, the eliective pitch being greater than the diameter of the coil-forming rod and adjacent units having their. COIlS 1n llne contact thru arcs of substan- Witnesses:

CARRIE GAILING, UNA C. PERIN. 

